Introduction to Accessibility
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of designing digital content and webpages to be accessible and usable to everyone, including individuals with disabilities. This includes people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments. Web accessibility aims to eliminate barriers to access, ensuring that digital content and services are available to all individuals, regardless of their abilities and disabilities.
To help ensure web accessibility, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) developed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG is a set of technical standards and guidelines that provide a framework for creating accessible web content. These guidelines help designers and developers understand how to design and develop websites that can be accessed and used by people with disabilities.
Implementing WCAG guidelines can benefit not only individuals with disabilities but also the wider population. For example, captions for videos can be useful for individuals who are not native speakers of the language or those who are in a noisy environment where they cannot hear the audio in addition to users that are hard of hearing. Clear and readable text can benefit individuals who have low literacy or are reading in a second language.
Web accessibility is an essential aspect of digital content creation and the WCAG guidelines provide a useful framework for designers and developers to consider when building websites. Furthermore, integrating accessibility checks and audits in your design process can help you ensure that your website is compliant with Section 508 and the American Disabilities Act. This is especially important for organizations, institutions, and professionals in the legal space that represent some of the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our community.
This accessibility stylebook is designed to give you a high-level overview of the most important aspects of creating websites with accessibility in mind. It is not meant to serve as a replacement for thorough, in-depth accessibility checks and assessments.